God’s Work Continues Throughout History

In only a few years after the death of the Apostle Paul, Jude, the brother of James who both were half-brothers of Jesus Christ, writes his epistle Jude in 70 AD to warn believers of the false teachers and apostates who were leading people astray. Vespasian was now the Roman Emperor. Jude states that believers should study Scripture and pray so they would not be deceived and can lead others to salvation and be saved from an eternal death.

At least a decade later, John writes his gospel in 85 AD from Ephesus when Domitian is the Roman Emperor. His epistle’s intent was for the readership of all believers. It is likely that the content of his gospel is different from what is in the synoptic gospels because he knew most believers had already read those, so he was adding additional information which had not yet been written. About 92% of what is in John is not in the synoptic gospels. John states that the purpose of his gospel was for the purpose to evangelize so they can believe in Jesus Christ and receive eternal life.

Let’s remind ourselves about the four gospels:

Gospel Christ Viewed As           Written To        No. Chapters   Unique Material            OT Quotes

Matthew           King                    Jews                    28                        42%                                   53

Mark                   Servant              Romans             16                          7%                                   36

Luke                    Man                    Greeks               24                        59%                                   25

John                   God                     Church               21                        92%                                   20

We can see how each successive gospel expanded its targeted audience from mostly Jews as that was the major composition of the church at the time, to Romans as befitting to whom Paul was reaching, to Greeks as that was the popular language at the time to the entire church (both Jews and Gentiles) for which the church was now composed. Do we not see God’s hand at work here? God always supplies what is needed when it is needed. And we see that Mark did not need to have unique material from Matthew as his audience was the Gentile side of Matthew’s audience. John, on the other hand, needed to have unique material because his audience, the church, had already read and knew the material from the other gospels by this time.

About the same time as John released his gospel, he wrote 1st John, his first epistle to a group of churches in Asia Minor centered around Ephesus and likely the city from which John wrote this epistle. There were emerging groups which opposed Christianity and had infiltrated the church. He wrote to give them reasons for being joyful, encouraged them not to sin, and not be deceived by false teaching so they could know they had eternal life, and that they might believe in the name of Jesus Christ.

About five years later, or less, John wrote his second epistle, 2nd John, in 90 AD, also likely from Ephesus. He wrote to “the elect lady and her children.” There is no consensus on whom this is referring. He states that the love of Christ is demonstrated by obeying his commandments and by loving others. John warned of deceivers with the spirit of the antichrist who would deny the incarnation of Christ. Both the deity and humanity of Christ are essential to a correct Biblical view of the person and nature of Christ.

John’s third epistle, 3rd John, was written about the same time as his second, also believed to be from Ephesus. This time he names the person to whom he is writing: Gaius. This was a friend of Peter’s and one who likely helped support Peter and others in their itinerant missionary work. Peter commended Gaius in his good work and contrasted his work to that of Diotrephes who wanted credit for himself and who spoke against Peter and even refused hospitality to those needing it. Demetrius was likely the bearer of the letter to Gaius.

Timothy remained in Ephesus until he was martyred in 93 AD for standing true to the faith. The details around his death are somewhat unclear but, apparently, he was standing up against a debaucherous festival and the people beat him with clubs. His friends got him away, but he died shortly thereafter from his beating.

It seems John became the leader of the church in Ephesus after Timothy. Also because of John not yielding to the commands of the emperor requiring all to bow to a statue of Domitian placed in Ephesus, John was arrested and was attempted to be killed twice, but those attempts failed. He was then exiled to the isle of Patmos for a time, at least until Domitian’s death. John then went back to Ephesus where he died of natural causes.

John wrote the book of Revelation in 95 AD while on the isle of Patmos. There is much poetic license in the imagery he chose. Many believe that those of his day would clearly understand the meaning of his imagery. It is believed by many that John was describing future events of the coming Tribulation Period when the Antichrist will reign over the Earth prior to Christ’s second coming. There are other interpretations of his letter:

Historicist View: Revelation surveys the whole of church history. However, it has been noted that it has little to say of the church development after 1500 A.D.

Preterist View: Fulfillment of Revelation is in the past, shortly after the time of its writing. Many put the date of the writing before 70 A.D. as they believe the descriptions within Revelation are describing the fall of Jerusalem.

Futurist View: Everything in Revelation after Chapter 3 awaits fulfillment in the future. This is probably the most dominant view and is linked heavily to dispensational theology.

Spiritual View: There is no single fulfillment of Revelation; it contains only transcendent principles and recurrent themes. Most with this view believe John reported the visions as he saw them, but they should be interpreted in a more spiritual sense as to be edifying to believers of any age.

Because chapter 20 refers to an event called the Millennium, the interpretation changes to different views of this topic:

Premillennial View: The binding of Satan is still future and occurs upon Christ’s earthly return when he sets up an earthly reign lasting for a literal 1,000 years. At the end of this reign, Satan is loosed for a time and then all the wicked are judged at the Great White Throne, after which the new heavens and earth are created.

Amillennial View: The binding of Satan occurred with Christ’s victory over sin on the cross and the 1,000 years are symbolic of the current church age. At the end of the current age, Satan will be allowed to persecute the church just before Christ’s coming when a judgment of the evil and good will occur. Then the new heavens and earth will be created.

Postmillennial View: Some have a view similar to that of the Amillennialists, while others see the binding of Satan as a future time when the effect of the gospel has reduced his effect to nothing which will bring in a glorious age just before Christ’s return that is symbolic of the 1,000 years. A final attempt of Satan will go nowhere and then there will be a general resurrection and judgment when Christ returns.

The last two chapters deal with a new heaven and earth and thereby have two views of interpretation about this subject:

Literalist: The descriptions in these chapters are taken to be literal and the New Jerusalem will be the eternal home of the redeemed.

Non-Literalist: The whole account is spiritualized with no literal interpretation. Many link these descriptions to the condition of those who are now in a new covenant with God and Christ with the New Jerusalem representing the church itself in its present earthly existence.

It would seem the futurists’ approach, along with the premillennial view and the literal view, to interpreting Revelation is more in line with the prophecy of the Old Testament. One example is with the memorial feasts of Israel. There were seven feasts that God told Israel to keep yearly (Lv 23). Scripture supports that the first four have been literally fulfilled with Christ’s first coming, so it would stand to reason that the next three will be fulfilled in Christ’s second coming.

Passover (Pesach) represents Christ’s crucifixion (Lv 23:5; 1Co 5:7).

Unleavened Bread (Matzah) represents being freed from sin (Lv 23:6-8; 1Pt 2:24).

Firstfruit (Bikkurim) represents Christ’s resurrection (Lv 23:9-14; 1Co 15:20).

Pentecost (Shavuot) represents uniting Jewish and Gentile believers through the Holy Spirit (Lv 23:15-22; Ac 2).

Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) represents the beginning of the tribulation because God remembers his covenant with Israel once the Church, his Bride, is removed (Lv 23:23-25; Dt 30:3-5).

Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) represents Christ Second Coming as Israel is restored to God (Lv 16; 23:26-32; Zc 13:1).

Tabernacles (Sukkot) represents Christ’s Millennial reign as he now dwells with his people (Lv 23:33-44; Zc 14:9).

Jubilee represents the future Eternal State (Lv 25; Rv 21-22).

After Domitian’s death, John was allowed to return to Ephesus where it is believed he died of natural causes in 100 A.D. under the reign of the Emperor Trajan.

We see that the New Testament covers almost 100 years and has had a profound impact for several thousand years and will continue to do so until the end of time. I think it is amazing how the Lord works throughout history to bring people to himself and will use any an all who are willing to be used by him and be empowered by the Holy Spirit.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens